Miniopterus villiersi, Aellen, 1956

Don E. Wilson & Russell A. Mittermeier, 2019, Miniopteridae, Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 9 Bats, Barcelona: Lynx Edicions, pp. 674-709 : 703

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.5735202

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5735316

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/E84887F9-FFDA-D654-0A24-FEEB11C43109

treatment provided by

Plazi

scientific name

Miniopterus villiersi
status

 

18. View Plate 53: Miniopteridae

Villiers’s Long-fingered Bat

Miniopterus villiersi View in CoL

French: Minioptere de Villiers / German: Villiers-Langflligelfledermaus / Spanish: Miniéptero de Villiers

Other common names: Villiers's Bent-winged Bat

Taxonomy. Miniopterus inflatus villiersi Aellen, 1956 View in CoL ,

“grotte du Marché, Dalaba, Guiné francaise [= Guinea].”

Initially described as subspecies of M. inflatus . Later, two species were found in Upper Guinea; M. villiersi was the smallest and was moved to the schreibersii complex.

Recent genetic evidence supports its species rank. Monotypic.

Distribution. Restricted to Upper Guinea forest zone, in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. View Figure

Descriptive notes. Tail 48-56 mm, hindfoot 8:5-10 mm, forearm 42-44-5 mm. Villiers’s Long-fingered Bat is similar similar but smaller than the Greater Long-fingered Bat ( M. inflatus ) from Cameroon. Pelage is uniformly blackish brown. Wing and tail membranes and ears are grayish brown. Ears are small, with distal part of tragus unpigmented and whitish in eight specimens used for the species description, although this characteristic is not mentioned anymore in the literature.

Habitat. Closed lowland rainforests, forest edges, and tree savannas and also hilltop dry forests and submontane grasslands at elevations of 200-1350 m (mostly 460-900 m). Most roosts of Villiers’s Long-fingered Bats are found on slopes and ridges of submontane forests, and they fly along creeks to forage at lower elevations.

Food and Feeding. There is no specific information available for this species, but other long-fingered bats mainly eat soft insects captured in flight.

Breeding. Two female Villiers’s Long-fingered Bats caught in mid-March carried single embryos with 12 mm and 14 mm crown-rump lengths.

Activity patterns. Villiers’s Long-fingered Bat is thought to be nocturnal. It roosts in caves, old mines, tunnels, and probably rock crevices during the day.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. No information.

Status and Conservation. Not assessed on The IUCN Red List. Villiers’s Long-fingered Bat was separated from Schreibers’s Long-fingered Bat ( M. schreibersii ), which is classified as Near Threatened.

Bibliography. Aellen (1956), Decher, Hoffmann et al. (2016), Decher, Norris & Fahr (2010), Eger (2013b), Fahr et al. (2006), Koopman et al. (1995), Monadjem, Richards & Denys (2016), Reardon & Schoeman (2017), Schaer et al. (2013).

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Chiroptera

Family

Miniopteridae

Genus

Miniopterus

Loc

Miniopterus villiersi

Don E. Wilson & Russell A. Mittermeier 2019
2019
Loc

Miniopterus inflatus villiersi

Aellen 1956
1956
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